Chapter 8

Blaine walked out into the kitchen.  He saw Santana was already awake, sitting on the couch, exactly where he’d found her the previous night.  She was bent over her iPhone.

“Did you sleep all right?”

She looked up from her phone. “Yeah, fine. I’d prefer not to sleep on the couch, but you know. I can deal.”

He grunted in acknowledgement.

“You want breakfast?” he asked, as he opened the fridge. The question was kind of pointless considering there was really nothing to eat. He grabbed some milk and crossed his fingers Wes hadn’t eaten all of the Lucky Charms already.

“No. I already ate.”

“Already ate? It’s only...” he frowned at the clock, “Twelve.”

He heard a laugh from the living room, “Yes. My point exactly. Come here, I want to talk to you for a minute.”

Blaine took a final look around the barren cabinet, decided there was no cereal, and took the carton of milk to the couch.  He plopped down on the couch a couple feet from her. “What?”

“I wanted to talk to you...about...before.”

Blaine just simply pulled the carton to his mouth, attempting to not think about what she was saying.

“Blaine, we need to discuss this. I know you don’t want to, but it’s okay to talk about it.”

 “I have work.” He avoided her glance.

“Okay, fine. We have to talk about it later, though.”

Blaine got up and walked to his bedroom. He took a quick shower and prepared for work. He was almost out the door when Santana stopped him. “Blaine, I just want you to know, I still really care about you.”

He hardly hesitated before turning the doorknob and walking out. It didn’t surprise him that he pulled his phone out. People often needed to talk their way through these things. What did surprise him was the number he dialed.

Kurt’s.

When Kurt woke up in the morning, his first instinct was to wrap his arm around the body lying next to him, so he did. 

“Um, Kurt?” Rachel, said groggily as she was pulled against her friend.

“Wha- Oh!” He let go of her, and sat up quickly. “Sorry...I’m just, uh, used to it, is all.”

She yawned and smiled up at him, “I would imagine you are. Just don’t try that stuff with me or you’ll get your ass kicked next time.”

Kurt laughed and opened his mouth to let out a retort, but then “Single Ladies” started blasting through the room.

“That’s really still your ringtone? That song is like eight years old.”

Kurt shot her a glare, before picking up his phone.

Now, Rachel had known Kurt for a long time. Since their sophomore year of high school.  She knew when Kurt was happy, and when he was faking it. In the years since they’d met, she’d come to realize that Kurt wasn’t genuinely happy very often.  He would put on that fake grin, or the easy nonchalance, but he was never just…happy.

When Kurt picked up his phone, and saw the name on the screen, Rachel saw something in his eyes that most people probably would have missed, but Rachel had known Kurt for a long time. And what she saw was happiness, brief, but present all the same.

“Hello?”

Rachel relaxed into the bed, content with listening to the one-sided conversation for a minute. Kurt was silent for a minute listening to the other person.

“Wait, wait. Back up, she’s staying with you?” Pause. “And she said she still cares about you?” Kurt started laughing. “This could be good! Maybe we could use that to our advantage!” Another pause. “Blaine, you throw the ‘L’ word around like it means absolutely nothing.  You need to learn when it actually applies.” He listened, then, “Okay, okay. Well, it’s Sunday, so we aren’t going to meet today, but I’ll see you tomorrow, and we can attempt to clear all this up. Okay, bye.”

When Kurt turned back around, he saw Rachel giving him a weird look.

“What?” he snapped.

She smirked, “Oh, nothing. Do you want something to eat or do you have work today?”

“No, I have today off, let’s go get breakfast somewhere.”

“It’s noon. Most places have stopped serving breakfast.”

“Then let’s find somewhere that serves quiche all day long, because I have a craving.”

For the first time, Blaine showed up at the bar before Kurt on Monday.  This was mainly due to the fact that he was avoiding Santana.  When Kurt showed up, Blaine was sitting at the bar alone.

Coming up behind him, Kurt scrutinized every bit of the other boy he could see.  He took in the curve of his shoulders and neck, the muscles, slightly drawn in his back. He also noticed Blaine’s outfit, and decided that would be their next order of business.

As he sat down on the stool closest to Blaine, he said, “Are you free tomorrow? I get off of work at four, and we need to get you out of those…clothes.”

“Yeah. I suppose I am. Hello, by the way.”

Kurt nodded before gesturing to the bartender. “Okay, so some rules of thumb to go by. One, always, always buy her a drink. When you’re at a bar, it’s expected. Two, ask her about herself. Try to actually listen though, because most of the time they can tell if you’re listening or not. After that, once you feel like you have her in the palm of you hand, just ask if she wants to get out of here. It’s simple, really.”

Blaine took in everything he said, and remembered it. He couldn’t help but feel, though, that there was something wrong with him. Something about the way he talked or something in his eyes, but he decided to let it go.

“Alright, now we’re going to try the lead by example method again, and then I’m going to leave you alone, okay?”

Blaine nodded.

Kurt took him over to a table with two girls. The first thing he did was offer the girls drinks. They accepted.  He started a conversation with one of them, asking her about her life and family, stupid little things.  Blaine decided to do the same with the other one. He wasn’t nearly as smooth talking as Kurt, so after a while the girl went up to go to the bathroom.

Kurt interrupted his conversation to look over at Blaine, “I think I’m going to go back to the bar now. Just find someone else and I’ll…be watching. Or something.” Again, Blaine could see that glimpse of something that Kurt wasn’t telling him in his eyes, but he obliged and started looking for a new target.

Blaine spent the next two hours trying different things out with different girls, but it never seemed to get it right. He couldn’t find that perfect combination of sexy and sweet that Kurt seemed to exude. So when he finally felt like there was no more he could do, he walked to the bar and sat next to kurt, who, to his surprise was actually sitting completely alone nursing a beer.

“Any luck?” Kurt asked without looking up from his drink.

“Nah.”

“It’s okay, we’ll get it you just have to keep trying.  Didn’t get any more drinks poured over your head, I see,” he smiled, finally looking up towards Blaine.

Blaine laughed, “No, I guess on Mondays people tend to be a little more courteous.”

They sat there for a minute, before Kurt spoke up, curious, “So, tell me about her.”

“About who? Santana?”

Kurt nodded. “She must be one hell of a girl.”

Blaine looked down, “Yeah, well I guess. She’s…kind of aggressive.  We met in high school, and she’s always just sort of taken control of me, or whatever, but I love her,” Kurt opened his mouth to protest, but Blaine continued, “I know you say that I don’t, but…have you ever been in love? I mean, I’m not completely sure, but I think Santana is as close to that as I’m ever going to get. And to just give up on her…I don’t know. I feel like it would be a waste.”

Kurt nodded, he understood where Blaine was coming from, even if he didn’t agree with what he was saying. “Why did she leave you?”

“She cheated on me. Well, I mean, she’d always cheated on me. But she made it official, she moved in with the guy before she even left me,” he stopped and chuckled, humorlessly, “She was living in two places at once. Using my apartment until she broke it off, and sleeping with him. And now she’s back at my house because he left her. Oh, the irony.”

Kurt stared at Blaine the whole time he was talking, he saw the pain in his eyes and the memories flashing through his brain. No wonder he was having such trouble with this. “That sounds pretty messed up.”

Blaine laughed again, “Yeah. Yeah it is.”

“Why do you still love her, if she did that to you?”

“She was…is the first person who ever really seemed to care. When we were younger, she would help me get through the rough times, when my dad was being especially degrading or when my mom just really didn’t pay any attention. It was helpful. She was rash, but she knew what to do.”

Kurt looked over at him. “Well, I understand that.  Once you find someone, it’s hard to let go. That’s why I don’t let myself get attached,” Like I am right now.

Blaine blinked up at him, “You probably have the right idea.”

Kurt smiled, “And that’s why I’m helping you.”

“But, no offense or anything, I don’t know…that I want that. It seems so empty, devoid of emotion to live like that.”

“You get used to it.”

They continued a talking for a while, probably an hour or so. They drank and laughed, both forgot about the reason they’d come there, to get women. That seemed obsolete.  All that mattered was that Blaine’s laugh happened to be one of the most comforting noises Kurt had ever heard.

Kurt learned that Blaine had been in his own Glee club when he was in high school, much like Kurt’s New Directions. They were called The Warblers and it was how he’d met his roommate Wes. They actually had a lot of similar interests. Kurt found it incredibly easy to talk to Blaine. Plus, for once he didn’t feel like it was all just listening. Blaine seemed to genuinely enjoy hearing Kurt’s stories, unlike the awful hours Kurt had spent listening to some random girl’s tales of woe.

Around midnight, Kurt decided it was about time to go, they bid their goodbyes and Kurt headed home to his apartment and tub of ice cream.